Lt Col Jyoti Sharma: First Woman Judge Advocate General Deputed Abroad

Lieutenant Colonel Jyoti Sharma has created history by becoming the first woman Judge Advocate General of the Indian Army to be deployed on a foreign mission. As per her new role, Lt Col. Sharma will be inducted as a military legal expert with the Government of Seychelles and she would help update the East African country in the matters of defence and military.

While Sharma is one of the few women who have become a JAG officer in the Indian army, it is to be noted that married women of the army cannot be appointed as a JAG officer.

Indian Army officials to ANI: Lieutenant Colonel Jyoti Sharma appointed as Indian Army’s first female Judge Advocate General officer to be deployed on a foreign mission. She will be appointed as the military legal expert with the Government of Seychelles. pic.twitter.com/GStbHuVRsR

— ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2019

While Sharma is one of the few women who have become a JAG officer in the Indian army, it is to be noted that married women of the army cannot be appointed as a JAG officer. This matter has also found its way to the Delhi High Court as advocate Kush Kalra had filed a petition seeking directions to the government to recruit married women law graduates into the Judge Advocate General (JAG) department of the Indian Army like men.

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"This discrimination on grounds of gender is violative of the fundamental right of equality before the law, right of not to be discriminated on the ground of sex, equality of opportunity in matters of public employment, fundamental right to practice any profession and occupation and human rights of the women," the plea stated.

However, during the hearing of the case, the counsel of the Indian army had argued that women tend to take longer leaves after marriage which acts destructively in their pre-commission training.

This year has had several firsts for women of the Indian army. While Sharma is the first woman JAG on a foreign mission, Wing Commander Anjali Singh became India's first female military diplomat to be posted in any of the Indian missions abroad in September. She joined the Indian Embassy in Russia as the Deputy Air Attache.

"Wing Commander Anjali Singh joined @IndEmbMoscow on September 10 as the Deputy Air Attache. She enjoys the distinction of being the first female Indian Armed Forces Officer to be posted as a military diplomat in any of the Indian missions abroad," the embassy said in a tweet.

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Before that, in August, Wing Commander S Dhami became the first female officer in the country to become the Flight Commander of a flying unit. She took over as Flight Commander of a Chetak helicopter unit at Hindon airbase. After the Indian army allowed the permanent commission to women in specific areas, Dhami became a permanent commission officer of the flying branch in the Air Force who has been flying choppers.

As per her new role, Lt Col. Sharma will be inducted as the military legal expert with the Government of Seychelles and she would help the East African country in recording the matters of defence and military.

In April, the Indian army also began its process of recruiting women in the Military Police Corps (MPCs) service. The first step in this process of inducting women as Jawaans was by starting their online registration for recruitment in the Corps of Military Police. Indian army has promised to recruit enough women so that they comprise 20 percent of the entire force of MPCs.

Picture credit- Hindustan Times

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